Great video but you completely missed the mark on Noah T and Tony. Tony called off the cop getting his job back right after Noah broke up with Meadow, not to mention the overt racism that even Carmela displays (or holds back).

“No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which one is true.” - Hawthorne quote that Tony reads while waiting for Meadow in College

Tony was not only a failure as human, but he was a shitty gangster too.. He basically destroyed both his family and his crime family, everyone in his crew ended up either hating him, being murdered by him, or turning witness. In the first season, we think Tony is right to undermine Junior, but it turns out Junior is right.. Tony never had the makings of a varsity athlete

tony soprano is the pioneer of “if you were rooting for him by the end, you missed the point”

People love Tony for the tenderness of James Gandolfini. We see ourselves in the worst aspects of Tony that James Gandolfini hated about his job portraying Tony, who is an extreme version of the absolute worst qualities in his personality. There is no Sopranos without him, and I dont like actor worship, but in some unique performances, the effect on the viewer is undeniable. Gandolfini as Tony is one of them. Sopranos is a true work of art. It wouldn't be if not for James Gandolfini.

Chase said that he was shocked that no matter how brutal he had the characters behave, the audience still admired them. He said he got to the point where he said "Jesus; what do I have to do to convince the audience that these are Not good people??"

Tony Soprano is not an anti-hero, he is a villain protagonist.

I love the fact Tony's great evil is not about being a gangster. But being a horrible family man/ and friend.

Oddly, the scene where Tony wants Paulie to take over the cursed crew and Paulie wants no part of it was when I gave up on Tony. He plays Paulie like a fiddle making him think he sympathizes with him. Then, the moment Paulie finally agrees to run the crew, Tony just gets up and walks away with a grin while the look on Paulie's face shows that he now realizes that he'd been played. To top it off, after putting some effort into defending the cat that Paulie hates, Tony doesn't even look at it, much less pet it as he walks away. The poor cat and Paulie are just left sitting there realizing that Tony doesn't care about anything other than getting what he wants.

It feels weird to consider Tony an anti-hero. He feels WAY too far gone. Like, he's Mad King levels of fucked.

Wanna describe what makes Tony repugnant and damn near loathsome? The guy’s character hits all seven deadly sins: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth.

The fact that the sopranos is still being discussed is a testament to how great it was. Gandolfini truly made a mark with his role.

I think it all sort of comes together with Melfi dropping Tony as a patient at the end of the show because she’s concluded that their years of therapy have actually exasperated Tony’s issues instead of helping him. That he slowly becomes a shittier, more volatile and evil person because he’s self realizing all these things wrong with him and his life in therapy yet is part of a life that will never let him improve upon these things or actually get better outside of her office....Melfi has made him feel like he’s got a moral escape or amend for all the bad he does and will continue to do, because it’s in his nature and always will be. Like the sinner who goes to church on Sunday only to make themselves feel better about all the bad shit they did the week before, and to justify all the bad shit they’re about to do the week following. Some people don’t actually want to stop being bad people, they just will use any reason they can find for internally justifying why they are that way. Look at the amount of times Tony mentions that Christopher wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was driving high and would have possibly killed his daughter had she been in the backseat to those around him following Tony murdering him with his own bare hands.....Tony is so insecure that he can’t even kill those closest to him in cold blood without trying to make himself feel better after the fact.

He left out "petty" as one of Tony's repugnant traits. That's the only way to describe what he did to his sister.

What I also loved about this video is you pointing about the contradiction between Tony showing his kids what places their great-grandfather helped built, emphasizing the essence of "hard work and honest living" yet he preys on people who are hard workers who make a honest living. To paraphrase Johnny Sack, "The gall of that man. His grandfather must be spinnin'"

One thing I noticed in both the dream therapy session and real session after Chrissy’s death, Tony’s injuries almost make him look like a clown. Something about how bright red the wounds are made me think back to his “Sad Clown” image he had for himself that *Melfi was able to see through.

13:40 One thing that always motivated Tony, were creatures that couldn't defend themselves. The ducks, the horse, Adrianas dog, the stripper Ralph killed, the empty car seat.

RIP James Gandolfini He played Tony to actual perfection. Absolute legend.

I dont even think it was the killing of the horse that made Tony choose to kill Ralph. I think Ralph choosing to point out his hypocrisy did it. "What you're an animal love now? Everytime I see you you're shoving meat in your fat face". Tony likes to believe in his own goodness and anyone who challenges that is hated.

Vito was an earner , Tony would have given him a pass only because of the impact on his wallet.

The greatest part about The Sopranos is that NOBODY knows Tony's true intentions... NOT EVEN TONY. It's one of the greatest stories ever told about the struggle between Good & Evil within an individual's own psyche. At his core Tony is a Sociopath, even a Psychopath that's been conditioned by his upbringing & the people around him who were also Narcissists, Sociopaths & Psychopaths. But Tony does have a Moral side unlike many around him, a goodness in his heart that he desperately wants to bring to surface. However, his life was basically chosen for him, he feels trapped in the body of a mob boss doing all these horrendous things. This is why he suffers from PTSD, Stress, Anxiety, Depression. In his heart, the good part of him, wants a simple life, he wants to be a better person without having to be a Mob Boss. However he's already lost this battle with himself because he is in fact a Narcissistic Socio/Psycopath. He's trying to convince himself he's good & he can be good, but the struggle to bring that goodness within him to the surface is essentially unrealistic because he's already far too lost & what he tries to do is hold onto the goodness within him while it slowly slips away throughout the show until it becomes apparent in the end that Tony's Narcissism/Darkness has consumed him completely. Essentially his own Narcissistic Evil side was tricking him & all the viewers all along in order to consume him completely. By the end of the show, we can see the goodness has disappeared, we can see he's now consumed by delusions he conjures up to justify his own evils. He lost the battle for his own soul & that goodness that was present in the beginning of the show is now completely gone. It's one of the most brilliant Psychological & even Spiritual stories ever written about a person battling with their own duality of Evil & Good and losing. Top 5 show all time, for sure.

To me, the most repugnant thing Tony did was beating Zellman over his relationship with Irina. It was completely gratuitous given how much effort Tony put into detaching from her, and had a catastrophic impact on his family. Tony's murders, on the other hand, were related to crime and involved other criminals.

That's a great analysis! One of the most fascinating aspects of Tony, for me, is how he immediately starts to sabotage anyone around him who is getting better. Not only does he ruin Janice's progress with anger management, he consciously and subconsciously pushes Christopher to start drinking again. He really hates seeing evidence that progress can be made.

I totally agree with what you said about the Tony and Janice fight. My perception of him was already hanging by a thin thread but seeing him antagonize Janice out of spite only because she was genuinely getting better and overcoming her pent up anger. Tony can't stand the idea of someone he looks down on thriving and trying to become a better person because he's such a self absorbed narcissist. The lies, abuse and even the murders didn't shake me up as much as seeing him act like his mother than in that scene. The worst part is he enjoys it, when he exits the house after the fight, the day looks beautiful and alive with kids playing in the streets. It's like he finds peace in making others miserable, such a despicable mindset made me finally look at Tony as the monster he actually is!

One thing I’d like to mention about Tony killing Ralph. I actually don’t think it was even about the horse. I think he went to his house over that, sure. However, think of Ralph’s dialogue when Tony actually decides to kill him. Ralph says “what are you a vegetarian? You eat beef and sausage by the fuckin carload!” Tony on the surface cares about animals, but when confronted about whether he truly cares under the surface (aka threatening his own perception of himself that he is something above a gangster/murderer) and exposing his hypocrisy, he kills Ralph. Something else I’d like to mention, Tony initially went to therapy to address the panic attacks. He viewed that as a problem and so he went to therapy to address it. He doesn’t view his narcissistic and sociopathy as problems (people like this almost never do) and so that’s why he doesn’t really fundamentally change and the therapy doesn’t really go anywhere.

Tony was a bad son, husband, farther, nephew, friend and boss. But one of the most compelling characters on TV.

Gandolfini in this role should be up there with the likes of Heath Ledger's Joker. He brings so much more charm and ability to elicit empathy than the character had any business having. Tony is what Cersei should have been, both completely irredeemable morally and still able to elicit our empathy because he does have moments of emotional vulnerability and genuine care for his children.

One of my favorite lines in the show was in the first season when Melfi's therapist told her that when you get past the moral relativism you'll see that there is good and evil, and that Tony was evil. I feel like nowadays it's considered cool to be morally ambiguous on shows, and the genius of the sopranos was making tony not

One of the biggest things left out was how Tony brings up the car seat during Christophers funeral, it's a less subtle way of letting people know it's just an excuse and doesn't ruin the early scene.

This is my problem with the concept of the modern anti hero. Most people whom you'd consider anti heroes, are already villains. They have nothing heroic in them.

I know a lot of people like him in real life, you can only romanticise such people if you don't have to deal with them.

The "Tony Paradox" can bve summed up in two episodes. The one where he verbally and nearly physically assaults Melphi, and the next when he is siting in the chair, almost shy about things. Tony knows what he is, yet, ill prepared to do anything or even apologise for it.

Towards the end of the show, the whole house of cards Tony constructed in his sessions with Dr Melfi collapses and we notice that Tony gaslighted Dr Melfi and thus also us, the audience, probably for the whole duration of the Show. This then makes him the greatest and most effective narcissist of TV history.

To me one thing that’s often overlooked about Tony is the immaturity of his jokes, the vicarious fixation on AJ’s high school sports, the “you never had the makings of a varsity athlete”. He’s an overgrown jock, crude and stupid and possessed with little more than “low cunning”. His mafia lifestyle has never given him any reason to grow past that, and he probably couldn’t if he tried. So when you see how he reacts to Jackie Jr it’s bitterly ironic because he is Jackie Jr, which I think he realizes but even so he can’t understand what it means.

I’ve never bought into the Tony killed Chris bc of the car seat. That might’ve been the thing that triggered his realization that at the end of the day Chris is a massive burden and may eventually become a rat.

I couldn't agree more with all of this. Gandolfini was a beast of an actor.

Thing that always amazes me about Christopher’s death is it happens without much build-up in what could be the cold-open in some TV shows. Bear in mind that this is the final season of a show that has been running for close to a decade and the person dying is, arguably, the second-biggest character in the whole thing. In practically any other show, this would be the season-finale, perhaps even the climax of the entire show altogether, but The Sopranos just gets it out the way like it’s a nothing character and, somehow, this makes it even more shocking.

What ever happened to characters like Gary Cooper??? The strong silent type...

What's so odd is that there are a lot of Sopranos fans who do not see any of Tony's flaws. They think he's a hero.

We all have a hero in our hearts - Dwight schrute

This show is such a devastatingly accurate portrayal of narcissism because its completely real. My Dad - an abusive gambling narcissist, loved The Sopranos and is even bright enough to understand a lot of the complicated subtext and dangling plot threads going on in this show. When he showed me the first few seasons I could immediately tell he wanted to be like Tony Soprano, and even then he showed enough self-awareness to be like "Yeah these guys are still ice-cold killers though." As the show goes on and Tony becomes even more openly contemptible, Dad even recognized it and saw how this way of maintaining relationships leads to just absolute decay in every part of your life. At the same time though, he always rooted for Tony because the show does an unbelievable job at showing you Tony's world, and the motivations behind the decisions he made. By the end of season 6, I could tell Dad was uncomfortable with the decisions Tony makes, but he was also completely gaslit by the show (as intended) and was convinced that Tony was doing the best he could. HE WAS NOT THOUGH. Tony was in the end, a complete fucking snowflake and even sulks when his ego is bruised - like after he lost the fight to Bobby. The guy had so many chances to change and become better, but finds every opportunity he can to NOT change and be a victim of circumstances. It ended up with Tony living alone in fear, remorseful for nothing despite losing everything. Dad was upset by this conclusion but also saw the show completely through Tony's eyes and accepted it. It's funny though, when he was still around he'd always go back to season 2 and pine over "the good days" much like Tony did, despite it being a big theme that there were never really any good days - remember that was the season where Pussy got whacked? Remember Tony's abysmal childhood flashbacks? There's fucking no good parts of his life. Every season had some really awful shit happening. There were no good days, maybe just ones where it was easier to delude yourself. That's my Dad crystalized. The ending of Tony Sopranos arc is kinda revelatory in me understanding my shitty Dad's nature in that even when the show ends and is holding up a mirror and going "Look! This will happen to YOU! You need to get a fucking grip and change yourself for the better, you have control and no excuses," they will just say "Nah that's not me." This is the contradiction though - Dad sees himself, he sees Tony Soprano, and sees how they are similar, and even understand the world similarly, but when confronted about any bad part of Tony's personality Dad will retreat. Narcissists are completely self-obsessed and self-motivated but they are completely incapable of seeing themselves. One time Dad told me "I like to think I'm like Tony Soprano y'know? Low-key." I think Dad and Tony were the only people that thought Mr Soprano - infamous for his anger issues - was low-key XD

I think the beauty behind the show really revolves around what you can miss. If you watch a Sopranos clip online, you'll read comments touting Tony as a macho man. You'll meet people who love the show for it's violence, for it's apparent belief that Tony *is* the strong, silent type. You'll even see people whose least favorite part of the show is the scenes with Melfi. Tony's draw works. That same charisma he flexes in universe can trap even the audience. Gandolfini, despite everything Tony says and does, can trick you into believing the man Tony pretends to be is real. It's supernatural elements, so sparsely presented, are strange and dreamlike. When matched with Tony's own dreams, it feels hard to surmise what is true and what isn't. If you're not careful, you'll let yourself believe what's easiest.

Tony also demonstrated his subconscious drive to take advantage of so-called friends with Artie Buco as well; Artie calls him on it in a great moment of epiphany after his failed attempt to be a loanshark.

*This is for all the people who haven't been paying attention to Tony Soprano's character arc, who idolize Tony as the greatest hero or character without considering his many, many problems. Masterful acting, though.*

I completely agree. Mr. Gandolfini acted out the greatest character ever created, Tony Soprano. Rest in peace 🕊️

There weren’t really many sympathetic characters on the show. The closest one I would say was Bobby, especially when Tony made him whack a guy as an apology for Bobby kicking his ass.

I’ve watched this entire show 3 times. And would watch it again. That’s how good it is.

I often wonder if James Gandolfini would be alive today if he'd never taken on the Tony Soprano role.

I always felt that the writers of the show tricked us into liking Tony by giving him a series of foils who were far more deplorable. Mikey Palmice, Richie Aprille, Ralph and finally Phil were so despicable that Tony looked like a “good mobster” just by going to therapy, liking animals and getting offended by their excesses.

The best analysis of Tony Soprano I have seen. Most people seem to miss how truly loathsome Tony’s character was, because like a real sociopath he always teased that glimmer of humanity to throw you off.

Another more subtle tweak of Tony's inner character is that he's a consummate liar. He takes wisdom people give him and tried to use it as his own (and often failing at it), as well as bigging himself up for no real reason (claiming his Father's mistress had an affair with JFK for years). The dialogue of the show is peppered with his tiny lies and bolstering to the point that I found him to be quite annoying at times.

David Chase has confirmed on the Talking Sopranos podcast that Tony did kill Ralphie to avenge Tracee but I could see why you came to the conclusion that you did

So glad I found this channel. It’s hard watching an old show for the first time in your life, and then get so excited about it, but have no one to talk about it with. I seriously missed the hype train but I’m still here for it.

The one thing I think you may have missed in the characterization is how the show clearly portrays the costs of moving up within a criminal organization. Everyone who gets promoted to a higher position quickly faces the erosion of their moral core as they make more and more horrible decisions, and then use their vices as coping mechanisms. Johnny Sack gets cold and merciless as the boss. Silvio breaks down from the stress and ends up being relived when Tony returns. Even the promotions given to Silvio and Paulie cause them to be more ruthless and aggressive...Even the much discussed Christopher's long and nearly continuous fall are the results of the actions he takes to get "made" only for him to find that the higher he rises, the more he struggles with life. Tony is not intrinsically evil...but his role and complicity in organized crime is designed to strip away humanity one layer at a time. Arguably, Tony is the character most resistant to its effects...at least from an external perspective. But in the end he sacrifices his humanity to be the "boss". By the end of the series, Tony has lost almost everything, and the war with New York threatens to take it all away. Arguably it does if you interpret the fade to black as his death. But even if you don't, the man who he wanted to be...the human side of Tony died. All that was left was the Mob Boss, and he never saw it coming...

I highly recommend the short-lived series Boss with Kelsey Grammer. It's about a power hungry politician who struggles with his legacy, his family, and his age. He tries to do the best for his and those around him but reveals himself to be an absolute tyrant and monster.

The breaking bad writers had a similar arc in the final season. When you saw the lily of the valley at the end of face off you suddenly realize Walt himself was the villain by then. The fifth season was his descent into evil repugnancy, but the difference is when we met Walt he was a good moral man and when we left him he had redeemed himself to an extent. We meet tony as a man who is evil but has reservations about the morality of his lifestyle, but when we leave him he has rationalized it all and completely abandoned any hope at redemption or being a good man.

James Gandolfini deserves a ton of credit for making that character beloved by fans. Hard to make someone written that horrid of a human empathetic and even likable. James somehow pulls it off.

No one, not even Hitler or Manson wishes to believe that they are evil. Tony is perfectly OK with doing the right thing as long as it doesn't inconvenience him and even then he only does it selfishly to convince himself that he is not an evil man. The fact of the matter is that being good is difficult and boring. All the fun and enjoyable activities are the easy and bad ones and when you have no moral compass you will always wind up taking the easy and more pleasant road.

Seasons 5 and 6 truly showed how shitty of a person Tony is he ultimately ends up being what he hated and feared the most his mother

The most perfectly articulated and well written villian/protagonist in the history of TV or film. Gandolfini as Tony Soprano is a haunting compelling performance that still pulls us back 14 years later.

When I was young I thought the show was boring when it was airing on TV. When I was in my 20's I thought it was great. Now I think it's an unrivaled masterpiece of human storytelling.

The first time I watched Sopranos I absolutely despised Tony. It was incredibly dificult to watch him. Gandolphini did an amazing job.

Please consider doing a video on Moltisanti too some time in the future, he's a fascinating character and I think one of the best portrayals of a drug addict on TV.

Tony's fragile ego never had the makings of a varsity athlete

I can't articulate properly how well this video and your analysis is done. Thanks for this. Well done.

I must admit that I have never seen Tony as an anti-hero, I've always seen him as a straight-up villain.

ngl, been loving the recent vids, but I didn't realize how much i missed your writing/media analyses. Nice one!

That was a great breakdown of probably the most complex character in television history.

just finished season 6 . I'm amazed how far this show went given it was the first to do something like this. Watching the breaking bad finale I always felt it was a cop out . Also the final scene is one of the best i've ever seen. This show is right up there with twin peaks for me .

In a sense, Tony did not kill Blundeto at all. He literally had no choice but to make that happen or Blundeto gets tortured, and/or people he cares about get murdered in Blundeto's place. Clearly, he would have preferred his beloved cousin not die.

I watched the sopranos series twice, once with my older sister. My dad would only pay for HBO back then when The Sopranos was airing and everything time I heard that intro “Woke Up This Morning…” on Sunday night I knew it was time for me to go to bed

“I actually had to run out before the scene ended, but it SEEMED like he and Noah were getting along just swimmingly!” Lol this one snippet is so coyly tongue-in-cheek, I love it

Having such a repugnant, despicable main character yet have him be so empathised by the audience is not only phenomenal writing but spectacular acting. Truly one of, if not the greatest shows of all time.

I always thought an Anti-hero was a character who doesn't set out to do good, but is still good at heart, kind of a rebel without a cause type.

I think Tony is a lost soul who wavers back and forth in his extremes with no real solid moral foundation to hold onto, always succumbing to his worst impulses.Lying constantly to everyone around him including himself. A truly doomed tragic figure.

The sopranos writing has more layers than a wedding cake

The Sopranos and in particular JGs performance are the reason we are living in the golden age of television. It set the stage for adult times, quality acting, storytelling and continuity that few if any shows have lived up to

Beautifully articulated!

Wait is Tony Soprano really an anti-hero at this point though? I lowkey feel like people throw that term around without realizing it doesn't really apply to every morally gray character.

When he snuffed Christopher,the look on his face,like he was amazed how easy this was going to be,while at the same time thinking "You brought this shit on yourself,I fucking told you".

Absolutely brilliant analysis of the character, one of the best I've seen. To further prove the brilliance of this series and the character of Tony, I really can't think of another show that has inspired as many videos/essays that analyze different characters, plotlines, and interpretations as The Sopranos has. While shows like Breaking Bad and The Shield were excellent shows and are worthy of much love, they don't get talked about nearly as much as Tony Soprano and Co.

Man……Gandoldini did such a great damn job on that evil smile Tony has.

I mean, Tony is a quasi-diagnosed sociopath. He has literally NOTHING heroic about him, imo. Everything he does is a calculated action designed to supplant his empty lifestyle. Paulie goes through a tough time? Just keep him operational. Unsatisfied with levels of loyalty in the org? Bring someone else from the other side. The only times he is truly infuriated is when he is denied something, whether it is peace during breakfast or the satisfaction of beating someone like Bacala. Protagonist, but not the hero.

Lovely tribute to James Gandolfini as the end of the essay. He was amazing in this show.

Really nice video dude. The amount of detail and explanation is amazing

There's even that entire conversation he has in the episode "The Test Dream" where he confronts Coach Molinaro and it's mentioned a few times that that's exactly what Tony does is manipulates people. AND (I believe in a later episode) mentions that it's a recurring dream. Most excellent video essay on the series yet. Amazing work, man!

Chadbro Storytellin’ gracing us again.

This video is such an achievement. It crystallises all the feelings and thoughts I had about Tony but have never been quite able to articulate. Plus that ending, you summed it up perfectly, I've always said James Gandolfini's Tony is the greatest performance of any movie/TV show ever. Subbed and alerts on.

This might be the best, most logically analytical, synopsis-esque Sopranos video I've seen so far. Great work!

Man,I've been rewatching the sopranos and this character analysis is extremely accurate

Just finished the series last night for the first time ever and went in with no spoilers. A fascinating show, and a A+ analysis, Mac. You summed up my feelings that I didn't know how to express, perfectly

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for the Great Content! Keep it up

The Hawthorne quote in the College episode kinda sums up his pathology. It was there from the beginning.

Not gonna lie, I was often rooting against Tony in the early seasons simply because I didn't buy into his Italian code of honour for the mafia and cultural heritage. That wasn't an excuse to root for him. He was a thug who preached bullshit. Not until the later seasons begun exploring his psychological and existential woes that we started to see said codes of honour and heritage essences fall apart to show us how meaningless and fragile they really are. You really start to understand and truly emphasize with him even if you stand against what he believes in. What seemed like an exciting and colorful group of people are eventually revealed to be nothing more than egotistical, sophisticated chimps who often just chew off more than they can chew. Phil's men betrayed him in the end and Tony's dread never really improved. Only subsided from time to time.

Love how you touched on Tony’s duality: His hostility and vulnerability. That contradiction is one that I think every person has experienced, granted maybe not on a level as but still ever so present. Great Analysis my friend. You’ve got a new sub

Dude. This was a great video. Very intelligent and well thought out. Nice job man.

I bet he left Valentina because she was burned even though in the show he denied it to another character.

That scene with Janice is one of my favorites. Every time he says, "Sacre le bleu where is me mama..." I lose it laughing until my stomach hurts. I never thought of it as a scene where someone would say, "Okay...enough...Tony Soprano is irredeemable. But I guess that proves how even a small throwaway scene can be truly powerful in a show like this.

3:04 Seeing that The Shield and Vic Mackey were referred to quite a bit in this amazing video, is there a chance that we will ever get a video on The Shield, analyzing Mackey and/or the lifestyle of corrupt cops and their own rules and code? Thanks for the amazing video :)

To add to the Tracee debacle, Tony's care for her was virtually non existent, the first thing he says to Ralph after he beats her to death is "you don't think, you disrespect this place" he was more concerned about the possible fallout of someone being murdered at the back of his strip club and its image than the murder itself.